“Gendering” the Transitions: Women’s Movements in the Spanish and Portuguese Transitions to Democracy By Andrea Simoes, B.A A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fiifillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts Department of Political Science Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario Canada ©Andrea Simoes, 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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ABSTRACT Long suppressed under Fascist rule, democratization set the stage for the resurgence of the women’s movements in both Spain and Portugal. Democratization transformed the political space in which the movements could manoeuvre, and the dynamics of each transition shaped the political opportunities, discourses and strategies available to the women’s movements. Women, however, were not passive actors, reacting to the changes occurring in the political opportunity structure. In turn, they attempted to “gender” the Spanish and Portuguese transitions. I compare the dynamic relationship between Spain and Portugal’s paths to democracy and the women’s movements. What were the political and discursive opportunities available to the women’s movements at the different stages of democratization, and how did the women’s movements respond to these opportunities? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my parents who have always supported me, thank you. And to Alex, for all those Saturdays spent driving me to Portuguese school. To Frank, for your strength through my darkest hours. I would like to thank all those persons who helped me along the way. In particular, I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Vickers, without whom I wouldn’t be here. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv Introduction 1 Methodology 4 Chapter Outlines 7 Chapter 2: Women’s Movements and Democracy: Building a Conceptual Framework Introduction 9 Defining Women’s Movements 10 Democracy and Civil Society: Conceptual Clarification 13 Democratization Theory 17 Civil Society, Social Movements and the Democratization Process 28 Social Movement Theory 30 Where are the Women? 39 Gender Regimes, Gender Orders and Rounds of Restructuring 40 Women, Women’s Movements and the State 43 Women and Democratization 46 Chapter 3: Fascism and the Iberian Women’s Movements Introduction 47 Authoritarian Legacies 48 Authoritarianism and Women’s Movements 51 The Early Women’s Movements in Spain and Portugal 53 Fascism Under Salazar - The Portuguese Case 57 Fascism Under Franco - The Spanish Case 66 Women in Portugal 73 Women in Spain 77 Final Comparisons 80 Chapter 4: Women’s Movements and the Breakdown of Authoritarianism Introduction 82 Women’s Movements and the Breakdown of Authoritarianism 84 The Decline of the Authoritarian Regime in Spain 90 Women’s Activism in Spain during the Breakdown 97 The Decline of the Authoritarian Regime - Portugal 108 Women’s Activism in Portugal 116 Final Comparisons 123 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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Chapter 5: Women’s Movements in the Transition to Democracy Introduction 126 Women’s Movements and Transitions to Democracy 128 The Portuguese Transition - The Revolution of the Carnations 137 The Women’s Movement and the April 25th Revolution - 141 A Window of Opportunity The Limits of the Portuguese Revolution 147 The Defeat of Popular Power and Counter-revolution 152 The Window of Opportunity Closes - Women and the Counterrevolution 153 The Spanish Transition - Transition by Transaction 156 Women’s Movements and the Spanish Transition - 162 Restricted Opportunities The Catalan and Basque Women’s Movements 170 Women’s Movements and the Constitutional Drafting Process 176 Final Comparisons 182 Chapter 6: Conclusion 186 Women’s Movements Under Iberian Fascism 187 Women’s Movements During the Breakdown of Authoritarianism 190 Women’s Movements During the Democratic Transitions 192 Implications of the Transition Phase 194 Theorizing the Spanish and Portuguese Women’s Movements 201 Glossary 204 Bibliography 205 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Introduction On April 25 tVi 1974, Portuguese women took to the streets in support of the Revolution of the Carnations. A military coup formally brought decades of fascist rule to an end, setting Portugal on the path towards democracy. Shortly afterwards, the death of Franco initiated Spain’s own transition to democracy. Spanish women’s participation in the Democratic Opposition helped propel democratization forward. Spanish and Portuguese women’s movements attempted to stake a claim in their countries’ transition. The relationship between women, women’s movements and democracy in Spain and Portugal has been under-theorized. The transitions to democracy in Portugal and Spain, along with Greece, marked the beginning of the Third Wave of Democratization. Upheld as successful examples of democratization, the political transformations in Southern Europe have generated significant scholarship on the dynamics of democratization. Mainstream democratization literature explores various aspects of democratization in Spain and Portugal, from the breakdown of the authoritarian regimes to the voting patterns of the newly consolidated democracies. Generally elitist, they often minimize the role of collective action and movement activity. Moreover, most democratization theorists ignore the gendered dimensions of these processes. The allocation of political rights to women, while acknowledged as a signpost of democracy, has failed to draw further scrutiny. Women are largely invisible in studies of the Spanish and Portuguese transitions. As the countries of Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe democratized, feminist scholars, in turn, have problematized questions of women and democracy. Their focus on women's organizing in newly democratizing countries also corresponds to the 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. current scholarly interest in the relationship between social movements, civil society and democracy. Feminist research on democratization has helped introduce a bottom-up perspective, shifting the narrow focus of mainstream literature away from elite actors to also incorporate movements and civil society. Feminist literature on democratization, however, also counters male-centric social movement research, which tends to ignore the gendered aspects of civil society and movement activity. By applying a gender lens to democratization, feminist literature theorizes both the impact of democratization on women's lives and on women’s organizing, and examines the role of women in the transition processes, notably through women's movements. Feminist scholars exploring the gender dynamics of democratization, however, have largely ignored the cases of Spain and Portugal. Due to the weakness of the women’s movements in Spain and Portugal, and the newness of their Women’s Studies programs, only recently has academic research on women and women’s movements expanded there. Nonetheless, most of the Spanish and Portuguese feminist research has not theorized the democratization period. In Portugal, especially, there has been little in- depth analysis